Oh, Deathless One...

"Oh, Deathless One, we invite you here to feast on our offerings of blood and eternal loyalty," thirteen people of all genders, chanted and gathered together in a circle, on the snow-covered area during a chilly night. They are dressed in black cloaks, with charms dangling from their necks.

One of them brandished a sharpened daggar. They raised it high, overhead, and all thirteen chanted again... "Oh, Deathless One, we invite you here to feast on our offerings of our blood, and eternal loyalty."

Everyone opened a vein, as they chanted the spell a total of thirteen times. Each collecting their blood in a large, jewel-encrusted, ritual bowl.

One of them wondered aloud, "Are we certain this is best way to receive a gift from the Deathless One?" She stepped forward carefully, using her wooden staff, she had been crippled since childhood.

Another answered, "It is, according to the ancient manuscripts uncovered, by the Founder of this Coven."

The Crippled One still seemed skeptical.

All, but her, nodded in agreement. Someone took a wooden spoon, stirring together their blood offerings. Each member of the Coven drank from their blood bowl, with relish. When it got to the Crippled One, she refused.

Shouts of "Traitor!" and "Judas!" reigned supreme. The group tackled her to the ground, leaning their weight on her, in order to keep her positioned as they pinched open her mouth, pouring the remaining blood down her throat.

She spat it out, covering many of their faces, but she did end up swallowing some of it.

Another said, "This is considered treason, punishable by death."

Another added, "This is true, according to the texts."

The Crippled One, still pinned to the ground, still choking and sputtering after her forced meal of their collective blood, tries in vain to get loose.

Another steps forward, kneels over the Crippled One, brandishing the daggar, holding it over her heart. "We must exhume her beating heart, sharing the meal." The executioner begins an eerie chant, in an ancient, and now dead language, of such dark arts. The rest of them join in, as the Crippled one is stabbed in the chest, the executioner breaks open her ribcage, cutting out her beating heart.

It is offered to the night sky, as the Coven cheers its approval.

The Crippled one died, moved behind the veil, and continued to watch as her heart stopped beating, and each of them bit off a bloody chuck, then swallowed. Their chanting continued as the group suddenly started to levitate, exclaiming, "We have transcended time and space! Hazzah!" The dark night skies lightened, illuminating them, as they floated higher and higher.

The Crippled One smiled from her place in the great beyond, thinking, it is so much more than that! The Crippled One reached through the veil of time and space, to grab her old walking stick, which she quickly found she no longer needed. She grabbed it, running and clicking her heels as she did so, repeatedly. The coven watched her, mystified, as she stabbed her walking stick into what remained of her heart.

The Walking Stick started on fire, as bolts of lighting radiated from it, setting the members of the Coven on fire, as they each dropped to the ground, lifeless and still aflame.

They all stepped behind the veil, finding the Crippled One with open arms. The members of the Coven all appear surprised and a bit confused. The Crippled One said, "All is forgiven in death!"

They all asked her, "Truly?"

She nodded, then quipped, "You managed to transcend space, but not time." They all nodded in agreement. She also said, "Luckily, we have eternity to figure the rest out!"

They all bowed their heads together, in a celestial conspiracy to only "do good."